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[kosmicken]

This might seem like a silly question, but exactly what the subject says.  What does this actually do?  The library backup is a .zip file that is only a few hundred KB.  So it's obviously not a backup or all your media that you might want if your drive crashes.  Say your entire library is WMA or MP3 files. These files are tagged.  Worst case scenario, your lose everything, but you have backups of all these files.  When you reinstall MC on a new machine and import all the tagged files, they will integrate into your library because MC recognizes the file tags.  So why backup the library?

Now, suppose you have a huge drive, as I do, and you rip everything as lossless WAV files.  These files do not have tags.  I imagine that if my computer were to crash and I reinstalled MC and imported the library, as long as I still had the media files on a drive with the same letter so that the path is the same, all would be well.  But that last part is the key.  Suppose it's the drive with all my media that I lose.  Again, what good would it do to backup the library?

Just trying to understand a practical purpose for this feature, as I don't seem to get it.

[MrC]

Media Center manages via a database, aka, the library.  When you import media files, MC populates -- from file tags/meta-data -- its defined library fields.  There are more fields than file tags/meta-data, such as play count, last skipped date, etc.  In addition, MC saves all sorts of other program settings in the library, such as views, server information, options, etc.

A backup stores all of this, so a future restore will, along with the media files, recreate your MC experience.

Your media files need separate backup.

[wittykitty]

I found this really handy when I installed MC in a new computer.  I have loads of different library views, and the backup of the library I took from old computer reinstalled all the old views and links to the files on the computer - much easier than resetting all the filters and library views!